


Still Steve

by JaneyKatherineHummingbird



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, ShieldShock - Freeform, Skinny! Steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:16:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29780862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaneyKatherineHummingbird/pseuds/JaneyKatherineHummingbird
Summary: Steve gets de-serumed and is feeling despondent. Darcy reminds him it wasn’t his muscles she fell in love with.
Relationships: Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers
Comments: 7
Kudos: 71





	Still Steve

Darcy was working away at her desk when her phone rang. She fist-pumped as she picked it up, expecting it to be Steve making his usual post mission call to tell her he was okay. The caller ID was not Steve, though and she frowned at Bucky’s picture, hoping it was just because Steve was borrowing his buddy’s phone. 

“Hello?” She asked.

“Darcy, How soon can you come to medical?” Bucky’s voice sounded stressed and in Darcy’s anxiety went through the roof.

“As soon as I need to,” she replied. “How badly is he hurt?”

“Not so much hurt as…...altered? I guess that’s the word.”

“Altered? What, did he grow tentacles or something?” Darcy questioned tensely.

She heard Bucky sigh. 

“No, nothing like that. He seems to have been….deserumed somehow. He’s beside himself. Could you come quickly? I’m worried about him.”

Darcy was already gathering her things. At hearing “deserumed” her mind was already picturing the skinny Steve Rogers of yesteryear and wondering how in the world it was possible. Surely, this was all some kind of joke, right? Her husband had already been through so much!

They’d met before the Accords tore the Avengers apart and Darcy had secretly kept up communicating with him and ended up marrying him after they’d dealt with Thanos. Steve considered himself mostly retired, but he occasionally did some Avenging when there was an especially difficult mission and they needed his soldier brain. Darcy always worried about him, because Steve being who he was, was always going to put himself in the thick of things, but so far he’d seem to come back unscathed and feeling invigorated, which led to fun times for her. Oh, yes, Steve was a great husband in many areas.

As Darcy reached the private medical wing at Avengers Headquarters, Bucky and Sam were waiting for her, faces sober.

“How is he?” she asked. 

“Physically, he’s pretty much okay, but he’s having a hard time with the whole back-to-being- small thing,” Sam told her. 

“Do they know if it’s permanent?” she asked.

“No. They’re running tests right now.”

“Point me to my man,” she said firmly. 

“He’s in here,” Bucky led her into an exam area where a rather scrawny man was slumped on one of the tables, thin arms folded over an equally thin chest. Darcy started when he looked up at her and she recognized Steve’s sad blue puppy eyes in that gaunt looking face.

“Steve, honey, I’ve been so worried!” she blurted out, rushing to him and looking him over for injuries. 

“Darcy, I’m sorry,” Steve said, looking at himself ruefully. “We fell right into their trap and I was the prime target. Got stabbed with a syringe and it knocked me out cold. Next thing I know, I’m back in my pre-war shape. Hope I don’t make your eyeballs bleed.”

He tried to joke, but Darcy could tell it didn’t have any humor in it. 

She took his despondent face in her hands.

“Never,” she declared, looking right into his eyes. “You’re still my Steve and I love every inch of you. I’ll just have to be more careful when I hug you, that’s all.” 

Steve grinned weakly. “Not TOO careful, I hope. I won’t break in half, even though it looks like it.” 

He wheezed a bit, and Darcy’s gaze flew back to his chest, which heaved as he tried to get air into it.

“I did NOT miss this,” Steve told her, when he’d recovered. “Now Bucky’s gonna be mother henning me to death just like the good ole days.” 

“I wouldn’t have had to if you’d just taken care of yourself, Punk,” Bucky said, shaking his head in affectionate exasperation. “At least now, I’ve got help in the Keep Steve Alive struggle.” He nodded at Darcy, who shrugged and grinned. 

“Yes. Like Bucky, I am strongly discouraging you from fighting dudes three times your size in alleys,” Darcy said sternly. “Don’t think I didn’t hear the stories. Besides, you’ve got me to come home to now.” 

“I’m so glad you’re here,” he murmured gratefully, clinging to her for dear life. 

“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” Darcy said, kissing the top of her husband’s blonde head. 

“What have you got, Bruce?” Steve asked nervously as Dr. Banner entered the room. 

“Well, Steve, whatever they gave you would have killed anyone else,” Bruce told them. Darcy clutched Steve’s hand a little tighter, feeling a bit faint at the knowledge of the close call. “The serum saved you, but it took all of it. It’s too soon to know whether it’s permanent or not, but right now it doesn’t look good. We’ll run more tests in a few days to see if anything has changed. 

“Thanks, doc,” Steve sighed. “Thanks for the help. Well, Buck, guess you’re the biggest again,” he told his friend.

Bucky looked very pained as did Sam. 

“Just so long as you’re still alive and kickin,’ punk,” he said, clapping Steve on the bony shoulder.

“I’m too stubborn to die, you know that, pal,” Steve shot back impudently, then turned to Sam.

“Guess the shield is yours full time, Sam. No way in hell can I run with that thing, let alone throw it.”

“I’m sorry, man,” Sam told him, looking sad for his friend.

When the doctors finally released Steve, he went straight home to their apartment and stayed there, trying to keep his condition under wraps as he got used to it again. 

Darcy had to go emergency shopping since Steve’s clothes were all much too big and what really bugged him, he had to ask for help moving some furniture for Darcy. Some of the avengers popped in to visit and succeeded in perking him up a bit, but he was having a tough time of it. Darcy walked into their room to find him staring longingly at their wedding picture, absently clutching his ring, which hung from a chain around his neck since it no longer fit him. 

“Watcha thinking about, Stevo?” She asked plopping down beside him.

“How happy I was that day and how happy I am you stuck around. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me, sweetheart. I can get over losing the serum, but I couldn’t get over losing you.”

“Oh, Steve.”

Darcy took his hands in hers, love surging through her at his earnest words. Despite his altered appearance, Steve was still very much the Steve she’d fallen for. Nothing could change that big Brooklyn heart. 

“You’re never gonna lose me, baby,” she told him. “I love your feisty, handsome, freedom loving, bully-bashing self. Now kiss me, Rogers.”

Steve smiled and willingly granted her request, quickly proving that his skills in that area were by no means diminished.

**Author's Note:**

> I imagine Steve got a super juiced up taser like Darcy’s so he could still ward off evildoers. She says “the couple that tases together, stays together.”


End file.
